Written by Liz Skalka
Wednesday, 20 April 2011 09:30
Steve Glaser and Paul Diana, longtime members of the Easton Lions Club, which is co-sponsoring the Easton Senior Center’s low vision program, stand by a high-definition monitor at the town clerk’s office. Similar monitors will be installed at the senior center for the program.
Those with low vision — impaired sight that cannot be fully treated with corrective lenses — have a resource at the Easton Senior Center to help them see the world in a much clearer light.
In partnership with the Easton Lions Club, the senior center has launched a new low vision program aimed at helping people who suffer from this degree of poor vision.
The program, set to officially start in May, has been paid for entirely with help from the Lions Club, as well as grants.
“When you get to a certain age there are very few people who don’t wear glasses or have a need to magnify what they’re reading,” said Val Buckley, senior center director, of the need for such a program.
In Fairfield County alone there are 350,000 people who are visually impaired, according to Ms. Buckley.
The low vision center is headquartered in a large room at the Easton Senior Center and offers different items that may be used or loaned, some of which require a doctor’s referral.
The room stores several Optelec readers to help those with low vision view different kinds of materials, Ms. Buckley explained. The senior center has been loaning out its five readers for several years. They were acquired through donations and are valued at about $2,500 each.
“For those who have problems with visual acuity, it’s phenomenal,” Ms. Buckley said. “It improves vision so incredibly … they can start to read again and connect with the outside world.”
The readers magnify the texts of newspapers and checkbooks, for example, so they can be read by anyone.
Many visual aids, such as television magnifiers, exist to help people stay involved in the world around them. “People become lonely because they can’t be aware of what’s on television,” Ms. Buckley said.
Technology
But the newest pieces of technology that will soon be available through the program are special high-definition, low-energy computer monitors. The senior center is expecting to receive seven of these in coming weeks.
Ms. Buckley said the idea for the monitors came about though a collaboration with her husband, town clerk Derek Buckley, who is also receiving seven monitors for his office at no direct cost to Easton taxpayers.
The larger monitors may help residents easily search for land and title records, which are available digitally through the town clerk’s office.
Many seniors are interested in accessing information about their homes available through the town, Ms. Buckley said.
Ms. Buckley hopes the monitors and readers and the collection of large-print books and games, books on tape, and Braille items, along with continued support from the Lions Club, will help the low vision program become a regional resource funded entirely through donations. Achieving this could one day help the senior center secure additional funding for more types of programming for residents, she said.
Centers
Few low vision centers exist in the area. Danbury Hospital and Yale-New Haven Hospital both have one. Ms. Buckley said her goal is to one day have a hospital sponsor the senior center’s low vision program.
A total of $40,000 is needed to fund the overall concept for the program, though, which includes additional monitors. So far about $27,000 has been secured, Ms. Buckley said.
Derek Buckley assisted with applying for a $9,000 grant from the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers). Also, the senior center has been awarded $3,000 from the United Illuminating Co. for its installation of the monitors, which are considered to be environmentally friendly.
The Easton Lions Club has supported the Easton Senior Center in various ways throughout the years, said Steve Glaser, Easton Lions Club membership chair.
For this project, the Lions Club, a civic organization that often supports causes related to eyesight, helped purchase the computer monitors and also helped spruce up the low vision room. Mr. Glaser said the program is still in an early stage.
“We certainly hope that the center grows,” he said. “We hope that the people in need in the area get to know about it and partake in it. To some extent it’s aimed at people who may not have insurance to cover things but they still need the help. Some of the things she (Val Buckley) will be providing will be free of charge.”
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